Slain pregnant woman had told police about drug dealing. Did it lead to her death?

A pregnant Kentucky woman whose baby was delivered after she was fatally shot had given information to police about alleged drug-dealing involving the man suspected of killing her.

Police have not released a motive for the shooting of Geri Johnson, but will investigate whether her cooperation with police played a role, according to a state police officer.

“It’d be safe to say we’re checking into everything,” said Trooper Lloyd Cochran, spokesman for the state police post in London.

Johnson, 29, of Williamsburg, was shot in the neck and right shoulder on March 16.

A man police identified as Johnson’s boyfriend, Daniel S. Nantz, dropped off the critically-wounded woman at the hospital in Corbin that evening and left, according to court testimony and state police.

Johnson was seven months pregnant, with Nantz purportedly the father, U.S. Magistrate Judge Hanly A. Ingram said in a ruling.

A medical examiner said Johnson likely died as a result of choking on her own blood, Todd E. Tremaine, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, testified at a hearing for Nantz.

Doctors tried to save the baby, delivering a girl named Amelia.

However, the infant died three days later at the University of Kentucky hospital.

Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said the cause of the baby’s death was a condition that occurs when the brain receives too little oxygen or blood. He ruled the death a homicide.

Nantz was arrested the same day, March 19, on a federal charge of distributing methamphetamine. Abuse of the highly addictive drug has gone up sharply in Kentucky.

Soon after, state police named Nantz as the main suspect in Johnson’s homicide.

At a hearing in the federal drug case, Tremaine testified that he had interviewed Johnson last fall and she “implicated Nantz as being supplied with methamphetamine by a source known as ‘Bones,’” Ingram said in an order.

Johnson was indicted in February on a charge of being involved in a meth-distribution conspiracy with several other people, including James “Bones” Woods.

A witness told police that Nantz was concerned about Johnson’s name being in paperwork about a drug case, Tremaine testified.

Tremaine testified the witness also said Nantz suspected Johnson was planning to turn herself in on March 17 after negotiations with federal authorities, Ingram said in his order.

Johnson’s attorney in the federal meth case, Hailey Scoville Bonham, declined comment on whether Johnson was cooperating with federal authorities, or planning to do so.

An acquaintance who lived near Nantz, David C. Huff, told authorities that Nantz came to his house on March 16 and said Johnson had shot herself.

At the time, Huff was allegedly holding a person against his will after Huff and Nantz accused the person of stealing meth, according to a sworn statement from Tremaine in a separate case.

The victim said Huff — who was charged this week with kidnapping — slapped him, put a gun to his head and held him in a room for several hours.

The victim said Nantz left. Later, when Huff was letting the victim leave after promising to come up with $200, the victim saw Nantz return in a hurry in his truck and yell for Huff to help him, according to the affidavit.

As Huff drove away with Nantz in the truck, the victim saw Nantz holding Johnson’s head, and Huff and Nantz started yelling “she shot herself” out the window, the victim told Tremaine.

In his first statement to police, Nantz said Johnson shot herself at his house and that he took her directly to the hospital, then went home to take care of his children, according to Ingram’s order.

However, Huff told police that Nantz came to his house with Johnson’s motionless body and that the two of them went back to Nantz’s house, where Huff took Nantz’s children to their grandfather.

Nantz’s attorney argued that the evidence against Nantz was just as consistent with Johnson committing suicide as it was with the theory that Nantz shot her, according to Ingram’s order.

Ingram disagreed, saying that argument ignored details of Tremaine’s testimony, including discrepancies in Nantz’s story and the nature of Johnson’s gunshot wounds.

The medical examiner said Johnson was shot in the back of her right shoulder at an upward angle, Tremaine testified.

Tremaine said he believed it would be almost impossible for Johnson to shoot herself in the back of the shoulder in the way the medical examiner described.

Nantz has not been charged in Johnson’s death. State police said they plan to present evidence in her death to a grand jury.

Nantz’s attorney, B.J. Foley, noted that Johnson’s death remains under investigation.

“There is obviously much more to the story,” Foley said. “Regardless, Mr. Nantz maintains his innocence and will defend the case vigorously if charged.”

Johnson’s father, the late Jerry Bays, spent years in law enforcement as a state police officer, Williamsburg police chief and a deputy U.S. Marshal, Johnson’s older half-sister, Leigh Bays Donald, said Thursday.

Johnson was a kind-hearted woman who grew up in church, singing and leading worship, and attended the University of the Cumberlands for awhile after graduating from Whitley County High School, Donald said.

She also had a fearless streak. That may have figured in to her getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and getting involved in drugs, Donald said.

“She wasn’t a bad kid. She just got on a bad path,” Donald said.

Johnson, who had other children, loved kids. She was excited about the baby and had picked out her name.

Family members believe Johnson wanted away from drugs. Given her father’s career, it would be natural for her to help police as a way of accomplishing that, Donald said.

“I know she was wanting to do what was right for that baby and get out of that,” Donald said of the drug life.

The baby had a strong heartbeat when doctors delivered her, but had been deprived of oxygen for too long, Donald said.

Family members buried the two together.

This story was originally published March 28, 2019 at 10:53 AM.